


39th Timeline

by Monstrous_Femme



Category: The Magicians (TV)
Genre: F/F, Fake Dating, Femslash February, Timeloops, no character dies in the story but implied character death since this is an earlier timeloop
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-19
Updated: 2018-02-19
Packaged: 2019-03-21 11:49:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,042
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13740255
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Monstrous_Femme/pseuds/Monstrous_Femme
Summary: Kady needs help stealing shit for Marina. Julia needs help learning battle magic. They both need a convenient cover for how much time they're suddenly spending together. The solution? Pretending to be girlfriends.Of course, this is before they find out about the timeloops.





	39th Timeline

After the attack in the classroom, Kady sat in the hallway with her head between her knees, trying not to throw up. Other students were being lined up in the classroom and interrogated about their role in events, but nobody had come looking for her yet. 

_It’s just magical exhaustion,_ she told herself. I’m not weak. I don’t get fucked up over monsters, not anymore. But when she closed her eyes, all she could see were moths. She kept them open.

The sound of footsteps echoed through the hallway. Kady didn’t look up. If they wanted answers from her, they’d have to do it right fucking then and there. She wasn’t moving. 

A pair of ankle boots appeared in her line of sight. The footsteps stopped, and someone sat down next to her.

“What the fuck do you want?” Kady snapped. Her voice didn’t have as much bite as she’d hoped it would.

“I’m Julia,” the girl said. “I’m a first-year too, I don’t think we’ve met yet.”

“Kady.”

“I know.”

“You haven’t answered my question.”

“I need your help,” Julia said in a rush. “It was our fault. Me, Quentin, Alice, and Penny. We summoned the Beast. I mean, it was an accident, obviously, but it couldn’t have happened if we hadn’t done something really stupid.”

At the thought of the— whatever that thing had been—a hard rock formed in Kady’s stomach. This girl was so calm. _She should be the one on the floor trying not to puke._ Kady narrowed her eyes. “You fucking shit,” she said. “You could have gotten every one of us killed.”

“I know,” Julia said. Her fingers twitched. “That’s why I’m talking to you. You did something back there in the classroom. It was battle magic, wasn’t it?”

Kady snorted. “So what if it was?”

“They don’t teach it here. Not until the third year, and sometimes not even then. But I don’t have two years. None of us do, not if that beast is out there.”

“So let me get this straight. You’re asking me to teach you battle magic?”

“Yes.”

“Oh, come on.” Kady crossed her arms in front of her chest. “You’re in the Knowledge house. Isn’t there anyone there who can teach you?”

“I’d pay you,” Julia said. God, she was so fucking earnest. “I have money, that’s not a problem. Name your price and I’ll get it.”

Money. Kady looked at the tailored coat, the perfect hair, shoes that looked like they were being worn for the first time in their life. Of course Julia had money. Of course she thought she could summon a fucking demon and then throw money at the problem until it went away.

It was tempting. But then, what would happen a month from now, when Julia realized she wasn’t getting the results she wanted? 

Kady shook her head. “Not money,” she said, thinking quickly. Marina had been on her ass for days about an amulet she wanted. “Something else. I’ll need you to help me with something.”

“Anything,” Julia said at once. “Whatever it is, I’ll do it. Just teach me to fight so if that thing ever comes back I can stop it from hurting anyone else.” Her voice turned almost steely at the end, but Kady had probably imagined it.

“Kady?” a voice called from a few feet down the hall. Quentin stepped out of the classroom. “They, um, they want to talk to you. Something about unauthorized battle magic? I don’t know. Anyway, um, I just wanted to say thank you—”

“Q,” Julia said. “Can you just give us a minute? We’re kind of in the middle of something here.”

“Oh.” Quentin scratched the back of his neck. “Right, of course, I’ll just, um, tell them Kady’s on her way.” He disappeared back through the door.

Kady looked at Julia. Her eyes were browner than she’d had expected, and warmer. “Meet me in the woods tonight,” Kady said, grabbing her bag and getting to her feet. “We’ll talk then.”

“Okay,” Julia said. Her lips moved into a half-smile, lighting up her face. “I look forward to it.”

*

“You want me to help you steal from Brakebills?”

Kady couldn’t see Julia very well in the dark, but she knew her eyes must look so fucking wide and innocent right about now. “It’s not my idea, okay? I’m not taking shit for myself. It’s something I have to do. Just trust me.”

“Trust you?” Julia’s voice came out high pitched and thin. “Right, because you should always trust people who ask you for help doing something that could get you kicked out of school.”

“Relax, they’re not going to kick us out. Besides, it’s your choice. You said you wanted to learn battle magic. That’s my price.”

Kady crossed her arms and waited as Julia stared at her. She could practically see Julia’s brain working as she considered the things Kady already knew: stealing was wrong, it was dangerous, and it wouldn’t matter one fucking bit compared to what could happen if a monster like the Beast returned to Brakebills.

“Deal,” Julia said, extending her hand. “But only until you’re done teaching me. The minute you stop helping me, I stop helping you.”

“And vice versa,” Kady said. “If you can’t get it up to steal from the school, I’m not going to hold your hand while you cry about how hard all the spells are.” She reached out and took Julia’s hand in hers.

They shook.

*

When Kady got out of class the next day, Julia stopped her in the hallway. “I want to get started,” she said. “Today, if we can.”

“With which part?”

“Whichever. I’d obviously prefer battle magic, but a promise is a promise. If you’ve got something you need… help with, I can do that too.”

Kady started walking down the hallway. Julia kept pace with her. “I’m not getting the new list until tomorrow,” she said. “So I guess it has to be the magic.”

“Perfect.”

“So, how do you want to do this? We could go to my place, or—”

“Let’s do it at mine. I don’t want to run into anyone,” Julia said.

“Works for me, it’s easier in a quiet place. You got put in Knowledge, right? Not quite the partiers we are in the physical house.”

Julia laughed. “Not unless we think we can learn something new from it. You know, I actually used to go to parties a lot? In college, with my ex-boyfriend. Columbia was so easy there was basically nothing else to do.”

Kady was about to answer when a voice called down the hall at them.

“Jules!” 

Kady turned her head and saw Quentin jogging towards them. She narrowed her eyes and looked at Julia. “Yeah, that’s gonna be a problem,” she said under her breath.

“Where are you guys going?” Quentin asked when he reached them. “I was hoping to hang out with Julia, but if you two are doing something together maybe I could, uh, come?”

“Um, Q, this isn’t really a good time,” Julia said, putting a hand on his arm.

“Why, what’s going on?”

“Nothing, it’s just—”

“Actually, Julia and I were hoping to have some time alone,” Kady said. She gave Quentin one of her patented death glares and hoped he’d _get the fucking message._

He looked between them with confusion, his eyes settling on Julia. “Wait, I don’t get it. Jules, you never shut me out. Not since you and James broke—” He stopped, a look of recognition in his eyes. “Wait a minute, are you two _dating?_ ”

That wasn’t what she’d been going for, but it’d work. “Yes,” Kady said at once, quickly sliding her arm around Julia’s waist. “We are.”

“Oh.” Quentin paused for a few seconds too long. “Okay, then. I’ll just leave you two alone. Um, Jules, can we talk later?”

“Of course,” Julia said. “Bye, Quentin.”

Kady took Julia’s hand and led her away before this could turn into a _thing._ “You’re welcome,” she said once they’d gotten far enough away that Quentin couldn’t hear.

“You’re just lucky that Quentin knows I’m bi,” Julia said. “He never would have gone there otherwise.”

“Sorry you’re stuck being my girlfriend now,” Kady said.

Julia laughed. “There are probably worse fates.” She squeezed Kady’s hand and smiled.

Something warm settled in Kady’s chest, but she decided it was probably nothing to worry about.

*

“Let’s take a break,” Kady suggested. She undid the dimmer spell, bringing the lights back to full brightness. “Come on, you’ve been at this for hours.”

“Wait,” Julia said, screwing her eyes shut. “Fuck, I lost it. My mind was almost clear. Let’s try one more time.”

“Nuh-uh.” Kady grabbed Julia’s hand and pulled her to her feet. “It took me a full year to learn to meditate properly. It’s going to take you longer than two weeks to get it right.”

Julia shook her head. There was a thin sheen of sweat on her temples. When they’d started this whole thing, Kady had had no idea she’d take it this seriously. But it turned out that whatever Julia did, she did at 100%. Marina had actually smiled at Kady the last time she’d brought in an entire list’s worth of stolen magic. It had been weird.

“You don’t understand,” Julia said.

She dug through her dresser for a Gatorade and tossed it to Julia. “Understand what, that some batshit moth-guy came to Brakebills and hasn’t come back?”

“Quentin’s been having these visions,” Julia said. “I don’t understand all of it, but he’s been really upset. He thinks we’re supposed to take down the Beast.”

Kady snorted.

“I know you think he’s ridiculous, but I’ve known him for a long time, okay?” Julia’s face was serious. “If he thinks there’s something going on I have to take that seriously. If that means meditating a million hours a day to learn battle magic, I’m going to do it.”

A warm feeling flooded Kady’s body, the same one that kept coming up when she looked at Julia. She ignored it and rolled her eyes. “Fine. If you really think it’s that serious, I can probably start you on some simple spells next week. Just—don’t expect too much right away, okay? And keep meditating. I know it’s annoying, but it helps.”

“Okay.”

“You really should take a break now, though.”

“I will.” Julia opened the Gatorade and took a swig. 

They stood for a moment in silence. Kady was far too aware of her own body, full of the sort of pent-up energy that meditation always left her with. She’d heard that for most people it was a feeling of calm, but for her it had never been like that. It centered her, but the energy it left her with could have powered a large train.

“Do you want to go downstairs?” she blurted out. “There’s almost definitely some sort of party going on right now—Eliot likes to throw them at the weirdest times, and I saw him downstairs earlier—”

“Sure,” Julia said with a smile. “A party sounds great.” 

As they started down the stairs, Julia took her hand. Her fingers felt so strong and smooth that it took Kady a moment to remember why they were holding hands. 

The moment they reached the bottom of the stairs, Eliot approached them. “Julia!” he said, trusting a glass of something pink at her. Julia let go of Kady’s hand to take it. “So glad you lovebirds could join us. I have enacted a concoction which I am very eager for you to try.” 

“Thank you,” Julia said. She took a tiny sip and immediately winced.

“Too strong?” Eliot asked.

“Let me try,” Kady said, grabbing the glass from Julia’s hand. She downed half if it and immediately wished she hadn’t. “Fuck!” 

“I’m guessing that’s a yes,” Eliot said. He pulled a notepad out from nowhere and wrote something down. “Good to know.”

Kady swallowed several times, but the burning in her throat didn’t go away. “What the fuck’s even in that?”

“Just a simple potion, meant to intensify pleasurable feelings while reducing painful ones. Basically, all of the best aspects of being drunk. The only problem is the kickback. No matter what mixers I use, I can’t seem to get rid of the sensation. You see, the potion kind of—well, it starts a small fire in the back of your throat and I haven’t been able to put it out yet.”

“You’re telling me that my throat is _literally_ on fire right now?”

Eliot pause for a second before replying. “Well, yes. Not to worry, though. The longer the potion is in your system, the less you’ll feel it, and the fire _will_ go away by the time the potion’s worn off.”

“How long is that exactly?” Julia asked.

Eliot cocked his head. “You know, I’m not sure,” he said. “Definitely by tomorrow morning. I think.” 

Kady wanted to be angry at him, she really did, but she was distracted by the way the dim lights hit the furniture in the room. It was so—so _ambient,_ and it almost made her mad because she’d only ever associated dim lighting with shitty apartments and now she was realizing how fucking _pretty_ it could be. Fuck.

“And he’s gone,” Julia said. Kady looked up to see that, sure enough, Eliot was already across the room mixing a new drink. “Having semi-successfully drugged us with an experimental potion.”

“Well, what can I say?” Kady asked. Her words felt pleasantly fuzzy and muted. “Us physical kids do know how to party.”

Julia laughed. It was contagious. “So, what exactly do we do at a physical kids party?”

“Fuck if I know,” Kady said through her giggles. “Whatever we want, I guess.”

“There should be music. Don’t you think?” Julia grabbed Kady’s arm. “Music would sound really really good right now.”

Kady listened closely. “I think there is music,” she said. It was hard to tell. There was so much going on in the room, so many beautiful, happy people in a kaleidoscope of laughter that made her want to forget ever bad thing that had ever happened to her. “It’s quiet, but it’s there. I think it might be—yep, Hotline Bling.”

“Fuck that. I want something I can dance to.”

“You know, I might actually have some blackmail on Margo,” Kady said. She tapped her fingers against her legs. “Nothing huge, but I think I can get her to play some better dance music.”

Julia snorted. “You know something that _Margo’s_ embarrassed about?”

“What can I say?” Kady asked. She smiled. “I’m a master Magician.”

When Julia laughed, it was the most beautiful thing Kady had already seen. _Fuck, Eliot’s stupid potion really works._ “Give me just a minute,” she said, leaving Julia’s side and approaching Margo. A few well phrased words in Margo’s ear and she’d received a glare and a change in music that had half of the people in the room up and dancing in minutes.

By the time Kady had taken a few steps, Julia had crossed the room to meet her. “You’re good,” she said. “Dance with me?”

Kady nodded. The room around her was blurry as Julia’s hands wound their way around her neck. When they danced, all she could feel was her muscles and the way they knew how carry her through a space. _So fucking beautiful._ Eliot was right, this was all of the best parts of being drunk and none of the yelling, none of the crying behind closed doors and kissing people so they wouldn’t look at her too closely. This was—

Well, magic. 

She lost track of time, but eventually, Julia pulled away from her and grabbed her hand. “I need water,” she said in Kady’s ear, then towed her away to a table on the side of the room.

“These are the safest,” Kady said, indicating to a few sealed bottles. “I wouldn’t trust anything else.”

“Makes sense.” Julia unscrewed one of the tops and handed it to Kady, then took one for herself. Kady drank it all at once. She hadn’t realized how thirsty she was. Julia finished her water almost as quickly. 

Kady stared at Julia, then wished she hadn’t. It made her dizzy. “We can keep dancing if you want,” she suggested.

“No, I think I’m ready to be done,” Julia said. “Thanks, though.”

They found their way back to the edge of the room and leaned against a wall. The party had reached its peak; anyone still sober had left long ago. No one was paying attention to them, but Kady put her hand on the small of Julia’s back anyway. It had almost become second nature by now, the little gestures that people would always read more into. They never had to do very much. People seemed to think they fit together, and they did. Just not in the way everyone assumed.

“What are you thinking about?” Julia asked, smiling up at a her. God, she had a beautiful smile.

“You,” Kady answered. “I mean, us.”

“You are the sappiest fake girlfriend I’ve ever had.” Julia leaned into her. Her weight on Kady’s chest felt comfortable and safe. 

Kady moved an arm around Julia’s shoulder and kissed her forehead. When she pulled away, she found herself yawning. 

“Tired?” Julia asked.

“Hey, teaching your ass to meditate properly is a full day’s work,” Kady said.

“We can leave if you’re ready,” Julia said. “I’ll walk you back to your room.” 

Under normal circumstances Kady would have snapped that she didn’t need someone to babysit her, but Julia had just taken her hand and smiled at her and after all, it wouldn’t do to have people see her and her fake girlfriend fighting in the middle of a party. She nodded. 

Julia led her up the stairs to her room, away from the noise at the party. When she shut the door, the silence was so full and rich that Kady easily could have drowned in it. 

They looked at each other for a moment, a strand of invisible light stretching between them. “I guess I’ll head back to the Knowledge house now,” Julia said, breaking eye contact. “Um, thanks for hanging out today. It was fun.”

“You can stay,” Kady said. “If you want to, I mean.” She tugged her shirt over her head and let it fall to the floor. “It’ll tighten our cover if people see you leaving my room in the morning.”

“Right,” Julia said softly. “Our cover.”

They undressed in silence. Kady found a pair of sweatpants and a shirt for Julia, then put on the large shirt she usually slept in. It had belonged to the first guy she’d ever loved, the one who’d promised they’d run away together but had really just stolen $200 from her and left in the night. _Fucking asshole._

Julia took one of the pillows from Kady’s bed and laid it out on the ground.

“What are you doing?” Kady asked. She laughed, but it came out sounding almost self-conscious. “You know you can sleep on the bed, right?”

“Right, sorry, I just—didn’t want to assume, I guess.”

“Well, it’s fine. Everyone thinks we’re screwing anyway, right? You might as well get to sleep up here. I can promise you, the floor is even less comfortable than it looks.”

Julia nodded, and gingerly stepped up into Kady’s bed. For several minutes, they laid side by side, parallel lines that refused to touch. Then Julia spoke. 

“Is it okay if I touch you?” she asked. “Sorry, I’m just not used to sleeping in the same bed as someone and not cuddling with them, and Eliot’s potion—but I know you’re probably not really the cuddling type. You know what? Never mind. It’s fine.”

“Julia, it’s not a big deal,” Kady said. Her heart was racing, but she ignored it. “If you want to cuddle we can cuddle.”

“Thank you.” Julia reached for her, but instead of pulling their bodies all the way together, she simply settled her hands on Kady’s arms and leaned her head into the crook of her neck. After a few minutes, her fingers began to trace her way across Kady’s arms. The spiral pathways they created were so strong they almost seemed visible. Kady suppressed a small moan. 

_It’s just Eliot’s bullshit potion._

Even so, she couldn’t stop herself from leaning into Julia’s touch. Friends were allowed to do this, just like friends were allowed to sleep in the same bed and kiss on the cheek and whatever else it was that friends did. It didn’t fucking mean anything. 

The fingers stopped their motion, and instead Julia’s arms wrapped around Kady’s shoulders and a head landed squarely on her chest. “You’re not a good pillow,” Julia said, but she didn’t move away.

“Shut up,” Kady said. “You know you love me anyway.”

_*_

“What sort of spell is this for?” Julia asked, looking down at the talisman they’d just taken from the office of an Astrology professor. 

“No idea,” Kady said. She looked back behind her to make sure they weren’t being followed, careful to keep her energy focused on the office wards. Every second was draining her like a mile-long run, but she couldn’t let the wards back up until they were a few more feet away. “I try not to ask too many questions.”

“You’re never going to tell me who you’re doing this for, are you?”

“It’s too dangerous. I don’t want you wrapped up in this shit.” They were far enough away now. She dropped the wards, immediately slowing to a walk. Fuck, she was tired.

“Kind of too late for that, don’t you think?” Julia said under her breath. 

_Right, like this is my fucking fault or something._ “Her name’s Marina. There, you happy?”

Julia looked at her closely. “But why do you—”

A sound down the hall cut her off. Julia and Kady both whipped their heads around to look for the source. Julia shoved the talisman into her purse. The footsteps were faint, but getting louder by the second.

“Fuck,” Kady said, turning to look back at Julia. Fear was etched into her eyes. If someone found them like this—if they realized the talisman was gone—

Without thinking, she grabbed Julia’s shoulders and pulled her inward. Their teeth clanged together painfully as their lips met. Kady pulled back just enough so that it didn’t hurt, and tangled one of her hands into Julia’s hair.

_Get the fucking message,_ she thought desperately, wishing for a moment that Julia could read minds so that she’d know why Kady was doing this. 

Julia hesitated for a moment, then leaned in so that her body was pressing Kady closer to the wall. Her mouth opened marginally, and Kady took this opportunity to slip her tongue between Julia’s lips. Julia’s fingers crept up to the sensitive spot on her side, and it was all Kady could do to keep from gasping. 

She had to remember that this wasn’t real.

Her lips danced across Julia’s face, to her neck and back up again. Julia’s hands moved under her shirt, just for an instant before returning to her hips, and goddamn it if they didn’t feel like the realest thing Kady had ever felt.

The door to the left of her opened with a bang. 

Kady released Julia and let her eyes go wide. “Shit, sorry,” she said to the professor who was looking at them with suspicion. “I guess we just got carried away.”

“It won’t happen again,” Julia said with a straight face, but Kady could see in her eye that she was inches from laughing. 

“Well,” the professor said, frowning. “See that it doesn’t.”

Kady nodded, reflexively reaching out and grabbing Julia’s hand. They were halfway down the hall before Kady dared look at her. When the finally made eye contact, it was all they could do not to burst out laughing. Kady held tightly onto Julia’s hand, immersed in silent giggles. She felt invincible.

*

Kady left Marina’s car, forcing her face to retain its stony expression until she’d make it back onto campus and Marina could no longer see her. But the second she was through the wards, she sat down on the ground and cried.

She couldn’t go back to the physical house. When she’d left, there’d been a party going on and it couldn’t possibly be done by now. Most nights Kady would have gone anyway, used it as an opportunity to slink back into her skin and try to forget. She couldn’t do that tonight. 

Instead, Kady forced herself to stand and let her feet guide her. She knew exactly where she was going, but pretended not to. She made it to the library, then up the stairs to the knowledge house and into Julia’s hallway before she let herself admit the truth. She knocked on Julia’s door.

“Yeah?”

“It’s me.”

The door opened for her at once. Julia was standing there in pajamas with her hair piled up on her head. “Kady,” she said. “Is everything okay?”

Kady shook her head. “No,” she said. “No, it’s really not.”

“Come on in. You can spend the night here,” Julia said at once. She stepped aside to let Kady through the door. “You don’t really look up for being alone right now.”

_I’m always up for being alone,_ Kady thought, but she was no longer sure it was true. She was too tired to care. “Yeah, okay.” Without waiting for Julia to say more, she tugged off her pants and crawled into bed. A few seconds later, Julia joined her. 

Kady tried not to say anything about what had happened, but it felt like there were ants all over her skin. She had to get rid of them. “Marina gave me another fucking list,” she said finally. “She didn’t even thank me for all the shit we managed to get.”

“I’m sorry,” Julia whispered. 

“I’m never going to get away from her, am I?” Kady asked.

Julia didn’t answer. She looked at Kady, and there was something in her eyes that made Kady realize she had to say more.

“I didn’t sign up for it,” Kady said. Getting the words out was a struggle. She turned away from Julia. “Stealing shit for Marina. I wouldn’t be doing it if I had a choice.”

“Why _do_ you do it?” Julia asked. 

Kady stared resolutely at the wall. “She— My mom did something stupid. Marina cleaned up her mess. I’m just the bargaining chip they use to deal with the debt.”

“Shit.”

“Yeah.”

“What happens if you stop?”

Her chest was being compressed by a rubber band. She was six feet under water and struggling to breathe. 

“Would Marina really—”

“I don’t fucking know, okay?” Kady snapped, rolling over to face Julia. “The only way to find out would be to try, and I’m not dumb enough to risk my mom’s life like that.”

“Okay. I—I understand.” Julia’s eyes were sympathetic. Kady couldn’t decide if she was grateful or angry. She couldn’t fucking stand it when people looked at her with pity, but Julia—Julia looked as though she might actually care. And all Kady could think about was the night after the party, the way Julia had touched her, and—

Fuck it.

When she spoke again her voice came out rough, but at least she managed to get the words out. “Are you going to spoon me or what?”

“What?”

She didn’t answer. 

“Kady, do you _want_ me to spoon you?”

Kady clenched her eyes as tightly shut as she could. “Yes,” she managed, imagining herself somewhere far away where she wouldn’t have to think. She turned so that her back was to Julia.

Julia slid towards her and tentatively put her arm around her waist. Kady’s breath hitched, and she could feel herself tense up before relaxing in Julia’s arms. Julia’s hand stroked her stomach. Kady leaned back into her, tucking her legs so that they lined up with Julia’s exactly. 

“I’ll help you,” Julia whispered. “If there’s any way I can.”

“Don’t,” Kady said harshly. “There’s nothing you can do.”

“Okay. But if that changes—”

“I don’t want to talk about it anymore.”

*

Two weeks later, Kady sat in her bedroom trying to meditate. She was having a hard time finding her center, thoughts like _Where the fuck is Julia_ and _we still have to find six things_ crowding out her silence. Marina was getting bored of waiting.

It was a bad idea to let Marina get bored.

After a few more minutes of trying to keep the thoughts at bay, Kady was interrupted by the sound of her door opening. She opened her eyes and saw the Julia was finally here. Her hair wasn’t brushed, and she looked like she hadn’t slept in days.

“What’s going on?” Kady asked, getting to her feet. “Fuck, Jules, are you okay?”

“We’ve done this before,” Julia said, throwing her coat on the floor and running both hands through her hair. Kady had never seen her this wound up.

“What, meditation practice?”

“All of it. Every single bit of this bullshit, slightly different every time. Thirty-nine _fucking_ times.”

“Julia, if you want me to know what you’re talking about you’re going to have to fill me in.”

Julia turned and faced Kady. There were dark circles around her eyes. “I just talked to Dean Fogg,” she said. “It’s usually Quentin who has the conversation, but we’ve all done it at least once. This was the third time, for me. He thanked me for not mentioning Groundhog Day. Fuck.”

None of this was making sense. Kady approached Julia and put her hands on her shoulders. “It’s okay,” she said. “Whatever’s going on, we’ll figure it out.”

“I don’t think there’s anything we can do,” Julia said.

“I won’t know until you tell me what the hell is going on.”

“Right.” Julia took a deep breath. She looked up at Kady, who suddenly realized how close together they were standing. She could feel Julia’s breath on her face. “We’re stuck in a time loop,” she said. “This is our thirty-ninth time. Every time it resets, she changes something.”

“Who changes something?”

“Jane.”

“Jane? Who’s—wait, is she that chick from those Fillory books that Quentin’s obsessed with?”

“Yep.” Julia pulled away and sat down on the bed. “She’s real, Fillory’s real, which would be _amazing_ except that apparently we all just keep dying and she just starts everything over.”

Kady’s heart started pounding, adrenaline kicking her magic into overdrive. Her lamp started shaking, and she forced herself to reign it in. “Wait, you mean like—”

“Oh, yeah. The Beast kills us every time. And then we get reset, and we still can’t beat him, and it goes on that way forever.”

“And by us, you mean—”

Julia counted on her fingers. “You, me, Quentin, Penny, Alice, Margo, and Eliot. In some combination. Quentin and I die every time, but you and Alice have both made it out once or twice and once Eliot died sooner.”

“Jesus.” Kady sat down on the bed next to Julia and took her hand.

“Yeah.”

Kady’s skin was on fire. She let go of Julia’s hand and tugged off her jacket. “Well, fuck,” she said. “Are we at least getting closer to killing the Beast?”

Julia shook her head. “Not really.”

“Okay.” Kady took a deep breath. “Tell me everything you know, okay? Am I stuck with Marina every time, or have I found a way out before?”

“I don’t know,” Julia said. She squeezed Kady’s hand. “I’m sorry.”

There wasn’t enough space in the room, but Kady moved through it as quickly as she could and yanked a window open. The air from outside was brisk. It touched the surface of her skin but couldn’t penetrate. _Breathe in for five, out for seven,_ she thought, years of meditation practice kicking in.

“I asked Dean Fogg for information,” Julia said. Tears were welling up in her eyes. She brushed them away impatiently. “He wasn’t able to help. I don’t know if it’s the spell, or—”

“Maybe we can find out somewhere else.”

“Yeah, maybe.”

Kady took another few deep breaths, then shut the window and turned her back on the cold. Julia was looking at her, and for a moment Kady let herself flash back to that night she’d spent in her arms.

“There’s something else,” Julia said. “I think you should know, but I, um, don’t really know how you’re going to take it.”

“Can’t be any worse than dying thirty-nine times.”

“Thirty-eight, we haven’t died yet this time around. Probably thirty-six for you, actually. But you’re right, it’s not.” Julia seemed to be avoiding eye contact. “Dean Fogg, he mentioned—you and me. Just in passing, as one of the things that doesn’t change. Apparently we’ve been together in every cycle so far.”

Kady sat down hard on the bed. “Wait, do you mean ‘together’ the way we are now, or…?”

“I have no idea.” Julia’s voice was hesitant. “Maybe we’re just really good at pretending. But it could also mean—”

“What was the change in this timeline?” Kady asked.

“What do you mean?”

“Well, that’s how we’ll know if it’s real or not, isn’t it? If it was something that affected Margo or Penny or someone, then it was fake before. But if it was something that could have affected us—you know what I mean?”

“Yeah, I get it,” Julia said. She swallowed hard. “I don’t know what the change was,” she said. “Not this time around.”

Kady nodded. “Okay. Whatever. I guess it doesn’t matter, does it? Pretty stupid to be worrying about our loves lives when it turns out we keep dying anyway.”

“I can try to find out—” 

“Don’t bother.” There were much more important things to worry about at this point, like the way Julia’s chin was wobbling as though she might start crying again. 

Fuck, they were going to die.

“Do you want a drink?” Kady asked. “Or, I don’t know, some drugs or something?” 

Julia shook her head, the first tears finally beginning to fall. “I don’t think that’s such a good idea right now,” she said. “If I start down that road, I don’t think I’m going to be able to stop.” 

Kady nodded.

“Can you just—” Julia’s voice broke. “Since we’ve apparently been in love thirty-eight times, can you just hold me and pretend you love me for a little while?”

Kady’s arms were around her at once. She kissed Julia twice on the cheek, catching the tears in their tracks, and for the first time in days, she wasn’t thinking about Marina’s list.

*

“Your turn,” Julia asked, rolling over to face her. “Truth or dare?”

Kady rolled her eyes, but the gesture was half-hearted. “Truth,” she said. “Your dares are never any good.”

“Maybe that’s because I want you to pick truth.”

“Just ask the fucking question.” There was a strand of hair falling in front of Julia’s face. Kady had to resist the urge to push it back.

This was the third night in a row that Kady had found herself in Julia’s bed. There was something about the knowledge that they might be dead soon that made her really fucking not want to be alone right now. By the end of the day practicing battle magic, it just made more sense to stay here. Julia had progressed beyond meditation to a few simple spells.

They both knew it wouldn’t be enough.

“Okay. What would you do if you could get away from Marina?” Julia asked. “Would you stay here at Brakebills?”

Kady looked away. “I don’t know,” she said. “I try not to think about it.”

“But—”

“There’s no point. I’ll just get stuck wishing for something I can’t have. Look, Jules, I’ve been down that road before. There’s no way out.” She wished Julia would let this go. She kept acting like it was something that could be fixed with the right attitude. 

“Is there a way we can get your mom out safely?”

“It’s too risky. If we failed—” Kady cut herself off. She looked at Julia again. “Fuck, I’m an idiot.” Three full days, and it hadn’t even occurred to her. 

“What do you mean?” Julia’s forehead crinkled in confusion. Kady finally gave way to temptation and pushed back the hair. 

“The timeline. You said it keeps getting reset.”

“Yeah, so?”

Kady moved her arms, growing more animated as she spoke. How had she not thought of this sooner? All those sleepless nights, thinking about her mother and how every choice she made would be the wrong one. “Well, that means nothing we do now has stakes, doesn’t it? I mean, we’ll probably get reset all over again. We can probably even figure out how to trigger a reset if we want to.”

“We’d have to die.”

“Exactly! Which shouldn’t be too hard to do. I mean, there’s a crazy moth-monster from another world after us.” Which she’d gotten roped into helping fight, even though she wasn’t even one of the people who’d summoned it. 

Julia stared at her. “What does this have to do with your mom?”

_What doesn’t it have to do with her?_ Kady ran a hand through her hair, trying not to get angry at Julia for not seeing what was so obvious. “You said you’d help me with Marina.”

“Yeah, and you said it was too risky like five seconds ago.”

“Because I thought our choices were permanent. But they’re not.” Kady’s heart was racing. She could see herself, sitting at Brakebills without fear. “If my mom dies it’s not exactly permanent, is it? So it’s possible to test a plan without risk. If it works, we focus on beating the Beast so it sticks. If it doesn’t, we let the Beast kill us and try again in the next timeline.”

“But even if it works we might get reset,” Julia said. “Isn’t it better to focus on killing the Beast so we don’t keep dying?”

Kady’s body was too full of energy. She got to her feet and started pacing. “There’s got to be a way to communicate with other loops,” she said, running a hand through her hair a second time. “So we can tell our future selves if it works.” She turned back to Julia. “Do you think it’s possible?”

Julia looked hesitant. “I don’t know. There’s not very much out there about time loops.”

“But say it works.” Kady grabbed Julia’s hand and pulled her to her feet. “Say we figure out how to do it. Then we can focus on Marina in this timeline but if the Beast kills us we’ll already have the Marina solution next time and we can figure out how to fuck up the Beast..”

Julia nodded slowly. “Can I think about this for a little while? I don’t want to jump into anything we haven’t thought through.”

“Okay.” Every cell in Kady’s body was urging her to solve this now, to not waste time, but she knew that Julia was right. “Let’s talk more tomorrow.”

They looked at each other for a long moment before Julia spoke again.

“What’ll you do, then? If we win? I mean, I know you’re only here because of Marina. If you get away from her, are you going to go away?”

There was a tremor in Julia’s voice. Kady squeezed her hand. “Truth or dare?”

“You haven’t finished yours.”

Kady rolled her eyes. “Can you please just hurry up and pick truth?”

“Okay. Um, truth.”

“Do you want me to stay at Brakebills?”

Julia answered immediately, but refused to make eye contact. “Yes.”

“Then I will.” When Julia still didn’t look at her, Kady tipped her head up so they were making eye contact. “Hey. I promise. If you help me out of this bullshit contract, I’ll stay here as long as you want me to.”

When Julia smiled, her eyes were so bright that Kady thought she might fall into them. “Your turn,” she said. “Truth or dare?”

*

Kady let go of Julia’s hands, feeling their combined power wash through her. “It worked,” she said. Her fingertips were tingling from the magic, and she had the strangest urge to laugh. “It has to have worked.”

“There’s an easy way to find out,” Julia said. She pulled a piece of glass out of her pocket and used it to check the wards. “They’re rock solid. You’re sure your mom won’t do anything stupid or reckless?”

“No.” Kady snorted, a small pang going through her. _It’s not your job to save her from everything,_ she reminded herself. “But if she does, it’s her problem. I’m done cleaning up her messes. She has a safe place to stay while I stop helping Marina. The rest is up to her.”

“And you’re sure Marina won’t get into the safehouse?” Julia asked.

Kady took the glass from Julia and double-checked the wards. They were a work of art. Julia had outdone herself. “Not without some serious man power. And she’d have to find out where it is.”

“So if this works—”

“Don’t jinx it,” Kady said. “But yeah. If it works, we’ve really gotten my mom out of this for good. And if it doesn’t, there’s always our inevitable doom.”

“Wow,” Julia said. “Okay. So—we did it.”

Their eyes met, and for a long moment they stared at each other. Kady was the first to look away. She could still feel their combined magic under the surface of her skin. She couldn’t bear to push it down, not when it felt this good.

“I guess we should get back to Brakebills,” she said.

Julia was still looking at her. “Yeah,” she said softly. “I guess so.”

The cab ride back seemed to take years. The subway would have been even longer, but Julia was the kind of person who could just run around catching cabs on her parents money. Kady should have hated her for that, but she didn’t.

She really, really didn’t. 

She caught Julia’s eye, and all of a sudden the whole cab felt warm. Julia’s fingers were moving absently, tracing circles on her own thigh. All at once, she wanted to feel them on herself.

_We’ve both used a lot of magic today,_ she told herself. _There’s all that residual energy or whatever it’s called. It had to go somewhere._ But residual magic usually made Kady want to run a mile, not grab ahold of the nearest person and kiss every inch of her skin.

“We’ll get out here,” Julia said as soon as they reached the Brakebills wards. She handed the driver a wad of cash, seeming desperate to get out of there. “Keep the change.”

He looked at her in confusion. “But this isn’t anywhere,” she said. “Are you sure you don’t want me to drop you off somewhere else?”

“This is fine,” Kady said. She and Julia exited the cab. Before they’d even made it inside the wards, Julia’s hand had slipped its way into hers. She looked at Julia, wondering if it was possible that they could both be feeling this. Julia bit her lip. She looked—

She looked like somebody with magic underneath her skin, desperate to let it out.

Immediately, their grip on each other’s hands grew tighter. The library was closer than the Physical Cottage, so that was where they went. By the time they had reached the top of the stairs they were practically running towards Julia’s door.

They’d barely made it inside before Kady was pressing Julia against the door and shoving their lips together. Her leg made it between Julia’s, her hands gripping her hips and she desperately rubbed against her. Flashes of light were sparking all over the room, and Kady knew she had to get control of her magic or someone would get hurt, but—

Fuck, she’d never felt anything this good in her life.

Julia’s arms were around her neck, fingers sliding against all of Kady’s most sensitive places, including that spot beneath her ear that none of her ex-lovers had successfully found on their own. When Kady moaned, Julia pulled away from her lips and began to kiss her there, using just a slight hint of teeth. 

Their lips met again. Julia’s tongue slipped into her mouth, and Kady started to pull away to ask what they were doing but somehow it turned into kissing a line down Julia’s neck to her collarbone. Julia melted against her.

It took all of the power Kady had to pull away enough to whisper, “Is this okay?”

“Better than okay,” Julia whispered. Kady’s returned her lips to her neck at once. Julia’s skin was the softest thing she had ever tasted. Julia wound her hands through Kady’s hair. “Fuck, your lips feel good.”

“Where else do you want to feel them?” Kady asked. She ran her fingers down Julia’s neck, to her chest and then lower, illustrating the possibilities.

“Everywhere,” Julia said, grabbing her around the waist and pulling their bodies even closer together. “I want to feel you everywhere.”

*

“So, uh, the Beast,” Quentin said. “Things aren’t looking good.” His eyes darted around the room to where Penny, Julia, Kady, Margo, and Eliot were assembled. Alice was standing at the front with him looking grim.

Kady rolled her eyes at Penny, who was leaning back in his chair. She and Julia were nestled together on the couch. It had become harder to keep up the perfect couple act after the first time they’d had sex. Every time they touched, a million questions about what was real and what wasn’t flew through Kady’s mind. She avoided the problem by maintaining a few inches of distance at all times, which had led to increasingly pointed questions from Eliot. 

“Was it ever looking good?” Margo asked. “Because evil moth-man that comes in through a mirror doesn’t really sound like the harbinger of good luck.”

“Right,” Quentin said. “But it’s—well, it’s gotten worse. A lot worse.”

“Can you just get to the point?” Kady asked.

Quentin took a deep breath and paused. “We’re, um, all going to die.”

“Excuse me?” Margo asked. Her voice was calm, but Kady noticed that her hands were twitching. “I don’t know what you’re talking about, but I for one do not intend to die.”

“I mean, we won’t exactly die because of the time loop, but we can’t win this time around.” Quentin moved his hands, but the gestures seemed random. “Alice and I used a probability spell and we couldn’t find a single scenario that doesn’t end in the Beast coming here and killing us all.”

Julia put a hand on Kady’s arm, and she realized she was shaking. _This had better be a fucking dream._

“It might be different if we could get to Fillory,” Alice said. Her eyes were brimming with tears, but she seemed resolute in not letting them fall. “But we can’t find any portals, and Penny doesn’t know how to take us.”

“Let me guess,” Penny said, crossing his arms. “If I go alone, I die?”

“Well, yes,” Quentin said. “Sorry, dude.”

_Mom’s alive. Marina can’t get me anymore._ Kady had never believed in miracles, but she clung to these facts. It made no sense, dying, when everything else had gone so well. 

“We should still keep trying,” Alice said. “There could be a portal somewhere, Jane and Martin used them all the time. Dean Fogg promised to get me access to more of the library’s collection so I could work on finding one. But—”

“When we ran the simulation for that option it ended with us finding nothing and dying anyway,” Quentin said. 

Alice nodded. “Exactly.”

Kady ignored Julia’s hand on her arm and got to her feet. She glared, as if that would change anything. “So let me get this straight. There’s _nothing_ we can do at all?”

“Pretty much.”

“Well, what didn’t you try?” she snapped. “What happens if we all leave Brakebills and hide out somewhere?”

“He hunts us down and picks us off one by one,” Alice said apologetically. 

“What is the accuracy rate of probability spells?” Julia asked. “Is there any margin for free will?”

“Well, it can only give the most likely scenario for any given choice,” Alice said. “Obviously there are too many variables for it to calculate for all of them. But seeing how we died the last thirty-eight times, it just doesn’t seem very likely—”

“We’re screwed, we get it,” Kady said. She sunk back onto the couch. Julia pulled her close and wrapped an arm around her, sending shivers all throughout her body. She ignored them. If she closed her eyes and tried not to think, she could make herself numb.

The rest of the meeting was a blur. When it ended, Kady found herself following Julia up to the knowledge house without taking the time to think about it. The second they were in the door, Kady grabbed Julia by the shirt and pulled their bodies together. Their lips crashed into each other, creating a moment of beautiful amnesia before Kady remembered what Quentin had told them. She kissed Julia harder.

They’d had sex twice since the first time, and it always happened like this: frantic and unplanned. Afterwards they’d fall asleep together, and Kady would wake up early and leave. 

Julia wrapped her arms around Kady’s neck, but pulled away a little bit. “Hey,” she said, kissing Kady gently on the lips. “We need to talk.”

“Later,” Kady promised, planting her lips on Julia’s neck. She sucked gently, and Julia gasped for a moment before lightly pushing her. 

“It needs to be now,” she said.

Kady stepped away and ran a hand through her hair. Opening her eyes hurt. She’d been wrong, it wasn’t possible to be numb. She’d saved her mother from Marina, and now it meant nothing. She’d have to do the same fucking thing all over again. “What is it?” she asked, forcing back a sob. “What do we need to talk about right now that’s more important than distracting ourselves from dying?”

“I have to tell you something,” Julia said. She had never looked more serious. “And I have to say it right now when I’m scared because otherwise I don’t think I ever will.”

“What?” Kady could hear the hardness in her voice. She didn’t care. She didn’t. This was who she was sometimes, and if Julia couldn’t handle that it was too fucking bad.

But what Julia had to say caught her completely off guard. “I love you.” Tears were beginning to fall from Julia’s eyes. “I love you for real. I’m sorry.”

Kady’s own eyes were dry. She felt like someone had come by and scooped out her insides, the way she sometimes used to feel when she would go days without sleeping. Any moment, she was sure she would wake up and find that she’d fallen asleep on her feet. This was all a dream.

It had to all be a dream.

“I love you too,” she said, unsure of whether or not it was true. Words didn’t mean anything in dreams. For a moment, she almost started laughing.

“I don’t want to lose you,” Julia whispered. She reached out for Kady, but stopped short of touching her. “I mean, I know we’ll both still be here, but—I don’t want to go back to a world where I don’t know who you are.”

Kady grabbed Julia’s hands and squeezed them. “I’m sorry,” she said. Sunlight was streaming in through a window at just the wrong angle. She couldn’t make out Julia’s face.

“For what?”

“I don’t know. Take your pick.”

Julia wrapped her arms around Kady’s neck. “You don’t have anything to be sorry for,” she said.

After only a moment’s hesitation, Kady slid her arms around Julia’s waist and pulled her close. “Fuck,” she said. “I mean, I knew it could happen, but I didn’t really believe it, you know?”

“I know.” 

Their bodies moved closer almost by accident, within moments they were kissing heatedly again   
The state of not having to think was blissful, but had to be constantly maintained. Kady wedged a leg between Julia’s thighs and tried to focus on nothing but the way their bodies rocked together, the heat where skin touched skin. _I am nothing but a body,_ she told herself. _I don’t know I’m going to die._

Later when it was over, they laid together in Julia’s bed. Even with their arms wrapped around each other, Kady felt as though they were lightyears apart. The proximity of bodies in space meant nothing. 

Julia looked as though she was struggling with something. “What if, when it all starts over—what if we aren’t—”

Kady ran her fingers through Julia’s hair and tried to sound light and breezy. “We’ve been together what, 39 times? I don’t think we’re going to be able to break out of that pattern. Looks like you’re stuck with me, babe.” The words sounded true, so true that Kady almost believed them. 

“Jane keeps changing things. What if eventually the differences all add up and we lose each other?”

“That’s not going to happen.” A rock was settling in the center of Kady’s stomach, but she refused to let it pull her under. She couldn’t afford to drown, not right now. 

“I don’t want to die.”

Kady closed her eyes. “It should be easy by now, shouldn’t it?” Her breathing wasn’t in any pattern she could recognize, and she forced herself to reign it in. When she took a deep breath, it was so loud that it almost sounded like a sob. “Our bodies are used to it, even if our minds aren’t.”

“I don’t think it’s that easy.” 

Couldn’t she see Kady was trying? Couldn’t she see there was no point in struggling, that it would only hurt worse to fight? “Can you please cut me a fucking break and agree with me?” Kady asked. Her voice broke on the word _please_. “At least I’m trying to make things seem better than they are.”

Julia reached up and wrapped her arms around Kady. “I’m sorry,” she whispered, kissing Kady’s cheek where the first tears were beginning to fall. “I’m so fucking sorry about all of it.”

“It’s not your fault.”

“I couldn’t find a way to communicate with the next loop.” Now there were tears in Julia’s eyes. “I tried, Kady. I tried really fucking hard, but there’s nothing. Once we’re erased, that’s it. Everything we did was for nothing.”

Kady’s body felt heavy, like it was full of rotting leaves. “It’s not your fault,” she repeated without conviction. “We knew going it we might not find it.”

“But your mom—and you—when it’s reset, Marina will have you again. It’s not fair.”

“No different from how it was before.” Kady managed a shrug, as though her lungs weren’t collapsing within her. “And hey, now that I’ve figured it out once, maybe I’ll do it again. Jane only changes one thing each time, right? As long as the change doesn’t affect either of us, things could go the exact same way as they did this time. Maybe you’ll help me again.”

“I will,” Julia said at once. “Even if what Jane changes affects us, I’ll find a way to help. I promise.”

Kady nodded. There was no point in saying what they both knew: there was no guarantee that anything would happen the same way twice.

*

When Alice called the meeting a week later, both Julia and Kady already knew what she was going to tell them.

*

Kady’s bed was too small to share, but she didn’t ask Julia to leave. The inch of space between them was enough. It could have been an ocean. Kady was as alone as she wanted to be. She was safe. She was safe.

If she thought it enough times, maybe it would be true.

“Can you please just fucking talk to me?” Julia asked. Kady watched her out of the corner of her eye, but didn’t say anything. “Fuck, Kady. We only have a few hours until our whole world ends. Can we please not spend them lying here not saying anything?”

“You think they’re right then?” Kady asked. She closed her eyes. “You think it’ll really be tomorrow?”

Julia reached out and ran a finger down Kady’s shoulder. “I want to say no,” she said. “But Alice did the math. And Alice—”

“She’s not going to be wrong about something this important. I know.”

She was met with silence. Kady worked to maintain the few centimeters of space between Julia and herself, but she could feel gravity working on her and pulling her inward. She wasn’t sure how long she could resist. She wasn’t sure what would happen to her if she gave in.

“What if—” she started, but she couldn’t finish.

“What if what?” Julia prompted. 

“I don’t know,” Kady said. She could feel the seconds ticking away like the timer on a bomb. “I just know I don’t want to lose you, and I know I’m about to and that we aren’t going to be able to change that by sharing our fucking feelings.” She let out a small sob. “I mean, Jesus, Julia. Unless you can find some sort of fucking silver lining, I don’t want to talk about any of this.”

Julia was silent for a moment. “There’s one, actually,” she said. “Silver lining, I mean.”

“What is it?”

“Well, if we’ve fallen in love every time so far, you know what means?” 

“What?” The space wasn’t comforting anymore. Kady grabbed onto Julia and pulled her closer, buried her head in the crook of her neck. Julia wrapped her arms around her neck and stroked her hair. 

“It can’t be random,” she said. Her smile looked real. If Kady believed in anything, it would be that smile.

“What can’t?”

“Love. I’ve spent my whole life wondering if people like Quentin were right, that it’s all just random combinations of events that make things like this happen. But every time something’s different and we fall in love anyway.” Julia smiled again. “So love is real. It’s not just things getting thrown together in random combinations.”

“I really want to believe that that’s true,” Kady said. Her fingers were digging into Julia’s hips so hard it must have hurt, but she couldn’t bring herself to let go. “I just don’t know if I can.”

“Come on,” Julia said, reaching a hand to stroke through Kady’s hair soothingly. “What’s harder to believe in, love or the fact that tomorrow we’re probably going to die for the thirty-ninth time?”

Kady rolled her eyes halfheartedly. “Okay,” she said. “The second one, obviously.”

Julia put a finger to her lips. “So it’s settled then,” she said, using the fingers of her other hand to trace patterns on Kady’s palm. “We’ll be together no matter what, then. In every universe.”

Something in Kady broke at that, and she could feel her mask dropping. “Do you promise?” she asked. She could feel her lips quivering and she hated it. What she was feeling right now was too much for any one person to bear. 

“Yes,” Julia said with her tiny half-smile. “I promise.”

Kady closed her eyes, but she didn’t pull away. “We never did find out if it was real the other thirty-eight times.”

The kiss that she was met with was so strong that for a moment, Kady stopped breathing. When Julia released her, there was only a whisper of space between their bodies. Julia smiled at her. “Truth or dare?” 

“Truth.”

“Do you think it was real?”

Kady opened her eyes to look at Julia. “Yes,” she admitted. “I do.”

“I do too.” Julia pulled her in for another kiss. It felt like magic. It felt like every possible combination of events, thrown together into a catastrophic soup.

Or maybe it was more like the stars, completely random but beautifully aligned.


End file.
